MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. The territory of Syria’s Aleppo province has been fully cleaned of the Islamic State group’s terrorists in an operation carried out by the government forces backed by Russia’s Aerospace Defense Forces near Khanasir, Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Thursday.
"At first, the government forces carried out a successful operation to the east of Khanasir fully blocking the Islamic State group members and then cleaned off the Khanasir pocket, forcing out terrorists to an open and desert territory that was hit by strikes of Russia’s Aerospace Forces and the Syrian Air Force. The territory of the Aleppo province has been fully cleaned of the IS, and some 1,500 square kilometers have been liberated," Zakharova said.
Zakharova also said the Syrian army has been fighting terrorists in Eastern Ghouta and in Jubara, the eastern outskirts of Damascus. A series of strikes on this area was carried out last weekend in response to the continuing mortar shellings of Damascus residential areas, the diplomat said.